MOTION OF CONDOLENCE (The late Mr H F Nkoana)

1) notes that on 19 January 2015, ANC Member of Parliament Hlakudi Frans "Tommy" Nkoana died at a Pretoria hospital following an illness;

2) further notes that Mr Nkoana was born on 13 September 1963 in Moutse in the Sekhukhune region, received his primary education at Rathoke Primary School, matriculated from Mabake Secondary School and qualified as a teacher at Kwena Moloto College of Education;

3) recalls that Mr Nkoana was elected to the National Assembly in the 2014 general election and served on the portfolio committees on Labour and Communications;

4) further recalls that despite his brief tenure in Parliament, Mr Nkoana was truly a reservoir of political knowledge and his immense contribution to debates, within the structures of both the ANC caucus and Parliament, will be sorely missed;

5) remembers that Mr Nkoana served in various structures of the ANC and its alliance in Mpumalanga, including being the longest- serving regional secretary of the ANC in the Nkangala region, as branch leader of the SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, as well as being an advisor to Premier D D Mabuza;

6) acknowledges that Mr Nkoana was an embodiment of the qualities that are rarely found in one person - a fearless freedom fighter, an astute educator, a skilful organiser, a unifier, a problem solver and a tireless revolutionary;

7) further acknowledges that the people of South Africa have lost a dedicated servant of the people, a selfless patriot and a disciplined activist; and

8) conveys its condolences to his father, his wife, Florah, and his children, as well as to the ANC.

Chairperson, as you have just heard, today we remember the passing of hon Frans Hlakudi Nkoana, otherwise known as Tommy. He passed away on 19 January this year in Pretoria after an illness, and I would assume that it was quite a long and protracted illness. He would have been 52 years old this year, which is quite a young age for a Member of Parliament and for a person to pass on.

As the DA, we associate ourselves with the motion of condolence. We would like to say to the family that we express our condolences and our sympathies to you at this difficult time.

On a lighter note, I have seen on a number of occasions that children always remember what one says at a funeral or a memorial service. They always remember if you have privately expressed concerns about a person but then you stand up in public at a funeral and say what a wonderful person he or she was! They remember. So, today I am not going to say a whole lot of things that are untrue.

I think Mr Nkoana was an honorable man, a hardworking Member of Parliament, a hardworking politician, a teacher and a member of his Sadtu branch. However, Chairperson and Members of Parliament, the truth is that I did not know him very well. He was only elected to Parliament in 2014 and he was only able to serve a couple of times on our committee as a full member before taking ill, so he was not around for a long time.

So, we cannot stand up today and say a lot of things about the member who was here in Parliament for such a short time, but we do want to express our condolences to the family. Hon Nkoana is survived by his father, his wife, Florah, and four children. We would like to say to you that we are sorry that your father, husband and son have been taken away from you so early in life.

Members of Parliament often look forward to their retirement years and to spending more time with their families because they spend so much time travelling as members. We travel to Parliament in Cape Town, we travel to our constituencies and then we travel to do oversight work, conduct public hearings and so on. Your relatives are not with you when you travel. Unfortunately in this case, he did not get the opportunity to retire after a long career and spend that retirement time with the family. We are aware of that; we are conscious of that and we express our condolences to you, the family, and also to his colleagues in the ANC.

Fellow Members of Parliament, as the DA we express our condolences to you and say, may his soul rest in peace. Hamba kahle. [Rest in peace.]

May the eternal peace of God bind the wounds that you would have sustained from losing your loved one. Death happens to all of us and we are grateful that Parliament continues to take the opportunity to stand in silence and recognise when one of our own passes away. To the family, we repeat: May God's peace bind the wounds and close the gap that his passing has left.

Chairperson, the IFP notes with sadness the passing of a member of this House, Mr Frans "Tommy" Nkoana, on 19 January 2015, who died at a Pretoria hospital following illness.

Mr Nkoana was born on 13 September 1963 in Moutse in the Sekhukhune region and qualified as a teacher at Kwena Moloto College of Education. Mr Nkoana was with this Parliament for only a short period of time. His presence in both the Portfolio Committee on Communications and the one on Labour had a positive impact and his presence will be missed.

His service in this House was a continuation of the work he had already done in his home province of Mpumalanga, which included being the longest- serving regional secretary of the ANC in Nkangala. He showed himself to be more than capable in handling the demands that being a member of this House imposes on any elected official.

The IFP would like to convey our condolences to Mr Nkoana's political home, the ANC, to his father, his wife, Florah, and his four children, as well as to his friends. May his soul rest in peace. Thank you.

The NFP notes with great sadness the motion of condolence tabled for the late hon H F Nkoana, a valued member of the ANC and a colleague in this august House. We wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the late hon Nkoana, knowing that their grief is deep and their sadness immense. It is our prayer that in time the good memories will triumph over the desolation they now feel.

On behalf of the NFP and on behalf of our party leader, Mrs V Z kaMagwaza- Msibi, we extend our condolences to the ANC, his political home of many years, on the loss of - in the words of the hon Chief Whip of the ANC - "a dedicated servant of the people, a selfless patriot and a disciplined activist".

May the soul of hon Nkoana rest in eternal peace. I thank you. [Applause.]

Hon Speaker, hon members, yet another member gone. Another sombre moment engulfs this House and his family. The UDM extends its heartfelt condolences to the family, the ANC and friends of the late member Tommy Nkoana, as he was affectionately known.

During his short service the late Tommy served the nation with dedication through the National Assembly and as a member of the Portfolio Committees on Labour and on Communications. As this House, we will miss his contribution and wisdom. We have been robbed of a rare opportunity and the possibly to benefit from a reservoir of knowledge drawn from various and daily interactions with the realities confronting the majority of our people on the ground.

This knowledge, shared through the relevant portfolio committees and debates in this House, would have sharpened our capacity to make laws that would bring a fundamental change to the lives of our people. Ours is to pick up where he left off, redouble our efforts in serving the people of this country with humility, selflessness and dedication.

The best we can do in this regard and in memory of his humble service to the nation is to ensure that we develop and adopt laws that create a labour environment that absorbs as many people as possible from the army of the unemployed while ensuring freedom of the media and access to information. Success on these fronts shall ensure that his legacy and dedication to the nation remain with us forever.

To his family, the ANC and its alliance, and friends, we hope that over time you will be able to close this chapter and allow him to rest in peace, as the heavens have already integrated him as part of the family. May his soul rest in eternal peace. I thank you.

Chairperson, Cope joins all the members in this House in mourning the passing of the hon Nkoana on 19 January 2015. After a lifetime serving different structures of his party, he had the privilege of representing the people of Mpumalanga in the national Parliament. Regrettably, his stay here was too brief for us to interact with him in a mutually co-operative manner to take South Africa forward.

In our country, unifiers in politics are most in demand. The inimitable and late Nelson Mandela imprinted on our minds the importance of the role of a political unifier. The ANC, we note, valued the hon Nkoana greatly for being a unifier. It is our loss that at a time when our Parliament and our country need all the unifiers we can muster, he will no longer be among us. May his example as a unifier live on.

As Cope we send our condolences to his father, his wife, Florah, his four children and all of those who were close and dear to him. We trust that the warm tributes that his comrades and his colleagues are paying to him will give you some comfort at this time of great grief. We enjoin all those in this honourable House to reflect on our mortality and to remind ourselves that life is for doing the best we can, so that when we depart, we would have left a little bit of ourselves in those whom we inspired and in those we have built. Farewell, hon Hlakudi! Hamba kahle! [Farewell!]

Chairperson, the ACDP notes the death of Member of Parliament, Mr Frans Hlakudi Nkoana, who died in Pretoria on 19 January, following an illness.

My colleagues and I did not have the privilege of working with the hon Nkoana during his brief time at Parliament. Nevertheless, we take special note of the words of his colleagues who describe him as very knowledgeable politically, an astute educator, a skilful organiser, a unifier, a problem solver, a tireless revolutionary and a man passionate in his desire to see factionalism and corruption in the institutions of governance rooted out.

The ACDP joins this House in conveying sincere condolences to his wife, Florah, his four children, his father, his friends and colleagues. Thank you.

[I have known Mr Nkoana for a short time. To show that he knew me very well, one day while were still serving together in the Portfolio Committee on Labour, he gave me my family history, the Nkoana family history. His cousin Mr Mashishi was my teacher while I was still a student at Bingweni High School. In the short space of time that I have known him, he has taught me many things. Agang South Africa was still new in Parliament by then. He made time for me, irrespective of the fact that I am a member of Agang South Africa and he was a member of the ANC. He told me that the mere fact that Mr Mashishi was my teacher at Bikweni High School made me his grandson. I would like to thank the Nkoana family for allowing this hero to serve the people of South Africa. We have learnt a lot from him. No amount of words will heal you from the pain that you are feeling right now. Thank you. We are your family, we will always remember him. We will never forget about his good works. Thank you.]

Hon House Chair, hon members, the Botha and the Nkoana family, distinguished guests, on 18 January 2015 the cruel jaws of death snuffed out the precious life of Comrade Tommy Nkoana, a freedom fighter, a people's tribune and a tireless revolutionary. Today, the ANC, the glorious people's movement, lowers its banner in honour of and in fond memory of one of its most illustrious sons and an hon Member of this Parliament, Frans Hlakudi "Tommy" Nkoana.

Comrade Tommy Nkoana was born on 13 September 1963, in Rathoke, Moutse West, a very dusty rural village mired in abject poverty. But Moutse West is abundantly rich in its propensity to produce freedom fighters. Moutse West is home to many worthy heroes and heroines of the struggle for liberation, such as the late Ephraim Mogale, the very first president in 1979 of the Congress of South African Students, Cosas, Comrade Piet Mello, Comrade Rooi Diphofa and Comrade Menemene Lesu, to mention but a few.

Comrade Tommy started schooling at Rathoke Primary School, proceeded to Mabake High School and completed his tertiary education at Kwena Moloto College of Education. Because of his skilful soccer wizardry, he earned the nickname "Tommy" among his peers and had a visible social presence at a young age. I have known Comrade Tommy for 23 years and I had the privilege of doing political work with him. While I served as the regional chairperson, he was regional secretary.

One day he told us that he joined the progressive revolutionary youth organisations Cosas and Sasco because he could not countenance the stark social, economic and political contradictions that characterised apartheid South Africa; a South Africa characterised by white opulence on the one hand and abject poverty for blacks on the other. In his book titled For Whites Only, Charles Cilliers, a white compatriot who is not an ANC activist, says, and I quote:

The world of apartheid was so perverse that if I could have been given the choice to be a very clever black kid or a very stupid white kid, if I wanted to live a good life I might have been well advised to choose being a stupid white kid. During apartheid, the cleverest black kid was likely not to achieve a quality of life that the dumbest white kid could achieve.

Comrade Tommy hated "Bantu education" and the general oppression of his people by the apartheid system. He said that he joined the liberation struggle because he was inspired by the valiant heroism of the warrior kings such as Sekhukhune, Thulare, Nghunghunyani, Nyabela, and the bravery of young lions such as Comrades Fawcett Mathebe, Njinga Sindane, Ephraim Mogale, Peter Mokaba and others. His yearning for freedom was rekindled by the liberation of Mozambique and Angola in 1975 and the seizure of power by the revolutionary forces in Zimbabwe in 1981.

Comrade Tommy is a product of the tumultuous mid-80s, when P W Botha, "die Groot Krokodil" [the Big Crocodile], contrived a total strategy to stem what he called the total onslaught against his government. This securitisation of the state made it as totalitarian as it was authoritarian. Comrades will remember that two states of emergency were declared in 1985 and 1986 respectively, but people decided to defy them. Die Groot Krokodil het nie gedink die ANC sal regeer en ons mense se nasionale doeleindes bewerkstellig en verwesenlik nie. Die ANC is nou besig om die Vryheidsmanifes se beleid te implementeer. [The Big Crocodile did not think the ANC would rule and bring about and realise our people's national objectives. The ANC is now in the process of implementing the policy of the Freedom Charter.]

Mr P W Botha inadvertently unleashed the political radicalisation and militancy of the youth at that time. Comrade Tommy was in the front trenches of the struggle led by Cosas and Sasco, such as consumer boycotts and making South Africa ungovernable.

He was a very diligent teacher who was passionate about his profession. His students say that he was always on time and he was a disciplinarian. As a teacher, he joined the SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu, a union whose mission was to fight for a nonracial people's education and to better the working conditions of educators.

No sooner had President De Klerk in 1990 announced the unbanning of the ANC and other political organisations than Comrade Tommy joined the ANC in the Rathoke branch, where he soon became a branch secretary and later a Moutse West zonal secretary. We were impressed with his monthly political reports to the regional executive committee and Comrades Sello Matshoga, Viljoen Mtsweni, Speedy Mashilo and I decided to campaign for him to be regional secretary.

He served as regional secretary for 13 years, making him the longest- serving secretary of a region in Mpumalanga province. It is for this reason that he was affectionately known as mongwaledi [secretary] even when he was already here in this Parliament. I remember vividly that as a secretary, he was time-conscious, and he kept his reports and the minutes properly. He had an amazing memory for remembering the names of many comrades, the branches they came from and the troubles they caused, if any.

He communicated organisational decisions very well and implemented even the unpopular ones fearlessly because he understood the principle of democratic centralism. Not only was he a lucid thinker, but he was also a combative debater. He did not suffer fools. As secretary, he was centrally involved in all the general election campaigns, from 1994 up to 2014, including the local government elections. He ensured that the election structures, the branch election teams and the regional election team were functional and able to prosecute the campaigns.

We deployed him to be regional director of sports, arts and culture in the Nkangala region, while I was MEC for sports, arts and culture in Mpumalanga province. Once again he distinguished himself in this responsibility. Comrade Tommy also served a stint as political advisor to the premier, Comrade D D Mabuza.

As I conclude, he was deployed here in Parliament after the 2014 elections and he served in two committees, that is, the Portfolio Committee on Communications and the Portfolio Committee on Labour, chaired by Comrades Joyce Moloi-Moropa and Lumka Yengeni respectively. He was deployed in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality's Parliamentary Constituency Office to do constituency work. Around August or September 2014, his health visibly deteriorated. Hon J J Skhosana conferred with me that we must advise him to go home and we persuaded him to do just that. Unfortunately, on 18 January 2015, the heart of this stoic fighter ceased to beat.

Comrade Tommy was a loving father and husband to Mrs Florah Maja-Nkoana and they were blessed with four children. We owe the family a deep debt of gratitude for supporting him while he was doing political work for the ANC and the alliance - a freedom fighter, a people's tribune and a tireless revolutionary.

Contact us

People's Assembly

Disclaimer

The data for this site has been sourced form a range of organisations and websites and often received in formats that are hard to process. As a result, errors can occur - if you see something that you think is an error, please click on the "Correct This Page" button and let us know so that we can investigate. Please click here to read more about our source data.